[karma]

Has anyone ever had their account access limited in Paypal?

I received a notice yesterday that Paypal has placed a limitation on my account due to unspecified security concerns given a recent account review. I had just received a payment from an international buyer here at Head-Fi, and was about to send payment for an amp when this happened.

Now my money is locked at Paypal because transfer outs are disabled, although I am still allowed to receive funds (how convenient for Paypal). I have sent an email to their appeals department as directed by the customer service rep I spoke to (who could provide no information and said there was no way of reaching the appeals dept by phone) but have yet to receive any response.

I find the entire situation ridiculous, and it has really put a major hindrance on a series of transactions I was about to complete. In doing some research on this, I'm now afraid to mail out the earphones I just sold to the international buyer because Paypal might require delivery confirmation in order to release the money. However, the buyer and I agreed to forgo tracking in order to save money. Now I'm thinking I might having to return the money somehow and cancel the sale.

The only reasons I can think of for such an action to be taken is the fact that I have had a couple of recent international transactions in the past month, and the fact that I have been using virtual account numbers for my credit cards. Either way, I should have been given a warning or notice of any security concerns first, instead of outright shutting down my account and conveniently holding my money hostage.

This is infuriating to say the least. I'd like to know if anyone else out there has had a similar problem with Paypal and could provide some advice on how to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

I'm definitely going to look into using Google Checkout as my transaction service in the future. Googling has turned up various other stories of Paypal using these same tactics to randomly hold people's money hostage. It's too bad that Paypal is so entrenched that it's hard to get people to use anything else.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Yeah I've heard this happening many times before. I happen to be an internationl user though, so I only have a CC attached to the account. I'd recommend other users wire money just before they need to send money, don't leave funds lying around.

 

[ken36]

How were you notified. Email or at the site?

 

[aaroncort]

man does that suck. Like, I assume everyone, I hate feeling powerless in the grip of bureaucracy. I makes me just want to punch someone in the face.

 

[brn80]

Sadly. more often that not, I have read that this is their modus operandi. They will close or limit your account in a way that will benefit them in some way or the other. They've done this to anyone and any entity; they even locked some charitable causes for some stupid reason or the other. Lock it in and sit on the interest.

As for the reasons, sometimes if the other person you've dealt with had their account for some reason, they use this is a reason to limit/hold your account. Either that or as you said, you were using virtual cards and had a higher number of international transactions.

Yeah, it's best not to ever keep your money in paypal, and even better is not to link your bank account to Paypal; I've read that they keep your account info for 6 years regardless of whether you close the account or not, and they can remove money within that time frame for any of their 'valid' reasons, well after the fact.

 

[karma]

I was notified of the limitation on their site right after I added a new virtual CC that I was going to use to send payment for the amp I'm buying. I also received an email notification as well.

Yeah, I never leave any money in my Paypal account -- I transfer money out as soon as I receive it. I have to link my bank account in order to move money out, but I rarely ever keep any balance in said bank account.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I just hope to get this matter cleared up quickly so that I can send our the earphones and complete my other transactions.

 

[StevieDvd]

I think I understand why from what you've said.

The credit card is used as a payment guarantee, if you gave false numbers and these were checked you would look extremely dodgy. You can receive money since that does not require a backup source.

I removed my credit card from my Paypal as the funds come from my account and the next payments I made were done as sort form of electronic cheque which took days to clear for the seller holding up my purchases.

I guess what many of us would like is a safe Paypal account where we simply pay from funds transferred rather than taking funds from an account or credit card - in case hackers get access.

So by using 'virtual' credit card you have probably caused this yourself.

 

[Yen]

Yeah, I hope this clears out for you karma. My credit card was charged with correct amount of money, so paypal didnt have any problems with it, at least...

 

[luidge]

I got that kind of problem with paypal and the only thing that help is to call them to complain about it, i sent like 5 email before and nothing budge untill i called.

 

[karma]

Just to update, my Paypal account was reactivated this evening after a 3 days of phone calls and emails.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevieDvd /img/forum/go_quote.gif The credit card is used as a payment guarantee, if you gave false numbers and these were checked you would look extremely dodgy. You can receive money since that does not require a backup source.

In speaking with a Paypal CSR yesterday, I was told that my account was limited exactly for that reason. And I understand it. But what I don't understand was why they didn't provide me any warning prior to locking me down. If the system is set to lock an account after X number of CCs have been used, it should send out a warning at some point before the lock so that the account holder will know that s/he shouldn't be using virtual CCs anymore and avoid the problem.

Paypal's appeal process is a nightmare. It's absolutely ridiculous that account holders cannot speak to anyone in their Appeals Dept. Instead, there's just a bunch of back 'n forth between the frontline CSRs and random emails from the mysterious Appeals folks.

And even their internal communications needs help. At one point yesterday, a CSR unlocked my account for me and told me that I can add my actual CC and be on my way. Well, I sign on, add my CC and -- surprise! -- lock down. Calling back and speaking to a supervisor, it turns out that CSR wasn't authorized to do that (that also means that these CSRs evidently do have the power to unlock accounts).

Because of their mistake, I had to wait another 30 hours for the appeals process to start over yet again before I finally regained access. Fun.

There needs to a lot more transparency in the way Paypal operates their business and customer service. Throughout this ordeal, I never once felt like a customer, but rather a prisoner kept in the dark.

 

[StevieDvd]

Sorry but that's all the fault of the con artists, the honest folk suffer because of them.

I can't say if the US paypal works in exactly the same manner as the UK but here if I pay for something from my bank account it will take a couple of days to come out of my account. If my bank refuses payment for any reason then it would mean the seller may not get paid. So Paypal have recourse to the credit card as backup funding so they of course want to make sure the card is a real one - the checking for which is not instant.

This is to avoid fraudsters using stolen cards as a means to get hold of goods without payment.

Had you not given a false credit card number the computers would not have flagged you as a possible rogue.

Given the state of the internet and the world it's better for you to be delayed than for someone else to lose money without any chance of recovering it.

Such is life.